InterCall vs. Huddle vs. GoToMeeting: Web Conferencing Tools Compared

If you need an interactive option you are best served by InterCall or GoToMeeting. If you need high-quality multimedia sharing options choose Huddle. If live service is important to you, choose InterCall or, to a lesser extent, GoToMeeting. GoToMeeting is a simple plan with no hidden costs if you will never need a large meeting. If you need online cloud storage of your files, Huddle is the only choice.

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They offer many different packages for their conference calling. All prices range on the amount of at... read more...

Best interaction tools including best chat features by far which facilitates questions during the meeting and interaction and polling feature which allows quizzes and feedback

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Up to 125 attendees allowed for the same price

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Best for: Groups that need regular meetings with 20 people or less (unlimited plan) or large groups of up to 125 who need occasional meetings (pay as you go plan). Better interactive traditional meeting format than Huddle.

We’re seeing some cool collaborative programs come to light as the years progress and business develops. Technology is increasing at an even faster pace than these companies are doing. Huddle is one such online company that brings the individual in a work place a tool they can use to collabora... read more...

Best for: Giving web presentations using multimedia to smaller groups. More presentational, less interactive compared to traditional web conferencing services, optimized for presentations that are very high-quality. More expensive for larger groups.

Gotomeeting.com is a web conferencing software tool that allows users to adopt remote desktop sharing technology to host synchronous meetings from various locations through the internet. The company serves both personal and corporate clients, and the technology used by the software allows clie... read more...

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Best option of the three for large interactive meetings of up to 125 participants. Huddle allows up to 100 but its interface is much better for unidirectional, multimedia presentation-style meetings. GoToMeeting is limited to 15 people.

Pros:

Great extra resources, PDF guides and tutorials, training videos and both toll-free numbers and live chat support.

Excellent one-click moderator change feature lets the presenter give control of the meeting to another attendee.

Upside of pared-down features is the very simple user interface that cannot possibly confuse

Easiest and best iPad interface.

Simple, flat-rate pricing eliminates hidden costs that cause other options to be deceptively pricey at times.

Cons:

Chat feature has no private option for mobile use

No social media connection options

No option for more than 15 users

Mac features are not as good.

Compare and Contrast Features

Web-Based:

All are web-based so users can instantly join and there is no need to download or purchase software, apps or hardware except for presenters/hosts.

Integrated Audio, Video and Web:

InterCall: Both host and users can control what is seen and heard by others. Organizer can view whichever user is speaking using an icon and mute and un-mute participants individually; this acts to cut distractions. All the users including the host can use a desktop or freestanding webcam to see and broadcast. The “Reservationless-Plus” system provides audio for the meeting and automatically calls all users at the scheduled meeting time. The audio can come through computer speakers or your phone. Web, voice and video aspects of the meeting are synchronized.

Huddle: Integrated phone and web services. Lets you upload audio, visual and video content, including PowerPoint presentations, and stream them during the meeting. Only one user can speak at a time; as such this is not like a traditional interactive meeting. Users can ask for the microphone although they need the permission of the organizer to speak. Hosts can use a microphone, a webcam or both and Huddle will integrate these into the stream of the presentation.

GoToMeeting: Webcam and video features are limited. However, GoToMeeting features total audio integration and meetings can use traditional toll-free numbers, services for calling in and out or VoIP. GoToMeeting can integrate any or all of these methods in one meeting with impressive quality. It patches each source into the whole and guards against problems like echo and delay.

Support/Availability:

InterCall: Tech support is available via toll-free numbers 12 hours a day. InterCall offers web chat, email and web conferencing for technical support as well. In addition to the voice and web options the website features a Learning Center with training sessions, webinars, FAQs pages, built-in help menus, how-to guides, a knowledge base, tutorials, product overviews and troubleshooting PDF guides.

Huddle: The service has a customer service team but it provides relatively little support and you cannot just reach them anytime of day or night. The service has an excellent record of little to no downtime, however. The website features a “knowledgebase” of in-depth articles on all of its features and also an interactive user guide.

GoToMeeting: There are toll-free numbers and live online chat although unlike InterCall these are not available as many hours. (When they say "24/7 support" they mean you can look at the website resources anytime.) The website provides guides, training videos, articles and tutorials to help users make use of the program.

Mobile Accessibility/Apps:

InterCall: Can be accessed on various devices including iPhone, Android, iPad and Blackberry. Users can connect with four social networks – Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Huddle: Can be accessed on various devices including iPhone, Android, iPad and Blackberry. A Microsoft Office add-in allows you to upload and save new Office documents into your Huddle workspace. Huddle users can connect using four social media platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning and XING.

GoToMeeting: Can be accessed on various devices including iPhone, Android and iPad.

Sharing Features:

Huddle: Great file management and document sharing is way ahead of the others. Users can see documents in the system media viewer or their browser. You don't need to open up Microsoft Office; instead you can create and edit Word and Excel files with your browser. PowerPoint and OpenOffice slides can be both used. Ideas can be shared using whiteboards and discussion forums, discussed in “Dashboard/Features” below.

Chatting:

Other Interactive Features:

InterCall: The host can use the polling feature to create surveys and quizzes to test the comprehension of attendees or assess user opinion.

Huddle: This service features online forums structured around posts and replies. Whiteboards, as many as any user wishes, can be created complete with embedded images and links. Edits to whiteboards are automatically saved and the information in those saved versions can be searched and tracked with the “Version History” and “Audit Trail” features. Users can also comment on whiteboards and this input is time-stamped and searchable. This makes up in part for the single-speaker limitation.

GoToMeeting: Only very basic features including desktop and application sharing, one-click recording, drawing tools and voice conferencing.

Presenter Perks:

InterCall: This lets hosts lead live tours of websites using their own bookmarks on their system while keeping them private. Hosts can also control ability of other users to edit or add to their documents. The host sees anyone who signs in to the meeting as well as any users who are being distracting. The host can mute and un-mute any users. The organizer can also share their screen in real time and zoom in on only the parts of the screen they want users to see including specific applications for sharing with the meeting.

Huddle: “Meetings” features a calendar that lets hosts set repeating meetings, add users and e-mail outside user addresses. Hosts schedule meetings and invitees automatically receive a request to add the calendar feature to their Outlook Calendar or iCal feed. After the included free 30 minutes of web conferencing for an extra cost hosts can add phone, video and web conferencing. Huddle is the only option that integrates the calendar feature to include all of these communications. Presenters can also track attendance, record and replay meetings. Although they are not as sophisticated as the InterCall polling features, Huddle does let hosts generate surveys for users. Hosts can promote users to present as they like (although they lose their own ability to do so while the other user presents).

GoToMeeting: One of the best features is the one-click “change presenter” feature. The host can give his leading capabilities and duties to another attendee. This facilitates meetings with long or complicated agendas and lets organizers and users improvise as needed.

Analytics:

InterCall: Has one of the best sets of online reporting tools for detailed analysis after the meeting.

Ease of Use/Interface:

All three services are easy to use. Attendees can simply log in online and therefore don't have to download any software. The log in interface is simple to use and understand. Hosts do have to download and do a few extra things for each one but all three interfaces are easy to use for them too. The interfaces are all simple and should not confuse participants or hosts.

Number of Participants:

InterCall: Up to 125 for the pay as you go price, unlimited package for 20

Huddle: Depends on the pricing program but between 3 (free) to 100 ($600/month)

Dashboard/User Features:

InterCall: The user interface is easy and can be personalized. The individual meeting interface features various panels which can be moved, deleted, resized or minimized. Your preferences get saved for future meetings.

Huddle: Liberal use of widgets which cover all basic functions a host needs. These widgets control files being worked on by any user, files waiting to be uploaded, tasks assigned in previous meetings, workspaces (there is one for every project but any more than one has to be under a paid plan). Huddle notifications come via a Facebook-like “What's New” feed and include notices from the calendar. Hosts can link their tasks with documents in their account file inventory and can export tasks into a CSV spreadsheet that is compatible with Excel. Full-text searches of all meetings are available. Users each have profile pages, and can schedule meetings. Scheduled meetings are synced with each user's calendar and can be added to Google calendars.

GoToMeeting: Because this is such a simple system there is not much of a dashboard for the limited features that it offers.

Security:

All three use standard 128-bit SSL encryption.

InterCall also allows you to set passcodes for each meeting and if you want, you can require participants to pre-register before they can join the meeting and you can virtually close the door to the meeting room to prevent anyone else joining.

Mac Factor:

InterCall: No hosting is possible on Macs. This compatibility issue does not affect attendees.

GoToMeeting: Useable in both Mac and Windows, but the features differ and Mac features are not as good; for example, Mac users cannot record meetings. Also, Hosts cannot share applications with participants on Macs. Strangely, though, this one has the easiest and best iPad interface.

Online Storage:

Pricing:

InterCall: Two choices. An unlimited plan for up to 20 users costs $59/month if it is month to month, $49/month, with a one year subscription, or $41.58/month at $499/year prepaid. There is also a pay as you go option for 17 cents per minute per participant; this adds up to $10.20 per hour per person.

Huddle: There is a free 14-day trial available. A free version of Huddle is available which allows up to 3 participants in an event. The following plans include unlimited numbers of events with a maximum length of 180 minutes: 5 Participants: $30 per month, 10 Participants: $70 per month, 20 Participants: $150 per month, 50 Participants: $300 per month, 100 Participants: $600 per month. Custom corporate packages are also available. Note: these prices are from research but are NOT available through Huddle's own website which makes you contact them for a quote.

GoToMeeting: Simple, flat-rate pricing of $49/month or $468/year eliminates the hidden costs associated with other services. Users can buy plans monthly or annually, and all options provide for the same 15 user per meeting limit. There is no license or fee requirement for any users and there is no meeting limitation or surcharge.

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